Chapter 77: The Lake of Origins (With gratitude to the esteemed patron "Circle God" for the generous reward!)

At this moment, Catherine’s consciousness was already faltering. She vaguely heard Ling Mo’s words, managed to pull a faint smile from the corner of her mouth, then pressed her lips tightly together and began to focus all her strength on regulating her internal circulation. Through the edge of her vision, she could barely make out that Ling Mo’s body had once again swelled to several times its usual size, towering over a hundred meters tall—far more massive than when he slew the sand whale.

Ling Mo now strode across dozens of meters in a single step, from the foot of the mountains to the summit of the black volcano. The distance of several thousand meters was covered in just three or five leaps, and he stood before the shimmering energy barrier!

Without any dramatic gesture, Ling Mo’s bare upper body bulged with veins, making his already intimidating muscles appear even more terrifying. He stepped back, assuming the classic “Iron Mountain Crash” stance, using his shoulder as a weapon, and hurled himself full force into the energy curtain.

The momentum of this strike, in Catherine’s eyes, was nothing short of earth-shattering! Ling Mo’s Iron Mountain Crash, from initiation to impact, left almost no interval—it was as though he pierced through time and space. His shoulder was ablaze with fierce flames, and though Catherine had no way of knowing how formidable Antoun’s energy barrier truly was, her intuition told her it could never withstand her master’s assault.

Pop—

The expected thunderous crash didn’t sound, nor did any violent tremor occur. Ling Mo’s ferocious attack landed on the barrier with a soft pop, as if striking a phantom wall—it simply “passed” through! Yes, it was as if moving through a bubble, without the slightest resistance. Ling Mo, carrying Catherine, entered directly into the energy curtain’s interior.

Here, Ling Mo’s near-perfect control of his body was revealed. If it had been Catherine, she knew that if she charged with all her might and struck nothing but air, inertia would send her stumbling forward, turning her into a rolling gourd. But Ling Mo, with a gentle press of his foot, stopped dead in his tracks, entirely ignoring inertia. This abrupt transition from furious motion to absolute stillness, performed by a giant over a hundred meters tall, was utterly astounding!

Having entered the energy curtain so effortlessly, Ling Mo turned to look back, his brow slightly furrowed. Catherine noticed his expression and couldn’t help but ask, “Master, is something wrong?”

“In my memory, whenever I came to chat with my old friend, breaking through this energy barrier required a good deal of punching and kicking. Don’t be fooled by its thinness—it’s as tough as the armor of an iron golem!” Ling Mo explained. “But today, I don’t know what’s happened. The barrier isn’t even active; what we see here is just a phantom for show. And the four guardians usually stationed around it are nowhere to be seen. The black volcano is riddled with oddities today.”

Hearing this, Catherine felt a chill run through her heart and began to reconsider, murmuring, “Master, things have changed. For safety’s sake, maybe we should withdraw and return when things are normal?”

“What safety concerns? Even if all the guardians came at me together, they wouldn’t be my match. Don’t worry!” Ling Mo waved his hand grandly. “Whatever strangeness is afoot, let’s get things done first!”

He paid no heed to Catherine’s protests, instead flashing up to the summit of the black volcano in a few instant steps, standing at the rim of the crater. From here, Catherine discovered that the crater was divided into two parts. The southern side was a fathomless pit, from which dense black smoke billowed ceaselessly. The northern side was a tranquil pool of water, clear and serene.

Catherine had seen volcanic lakes before—in her career as a wilderness streamer, she had encountered them during expeditions in famous mountain ranges. This one, at first glance, appeared no different: the water was just as brilliantly blue. But therein lay the problem. Ordinary volcanic lakes are blue because the water is pure and reflects the sky. Yet the sky above the black volcano was a grim gray, utterly devoid of blue. So where did the blue of the lake come from?

Ling Mo, clearly disinclined to explain, stepped forward and lifted Catherine from his shoulder, holding her in his palm. He solemnly instructed, “Listen: I’m about to throw you into the lake below. This is Antoun’s Source Lake. Its water quality is second only to the Moon Well beneath the World Tree. Healing your dehydration is mere child’s play—it will bring you countless benefits. Many elven beings are born from this lake; it is their sacred spring. The moment you enter, it will surely stir them, and awaken Antoun.”

“The first to arrive will undoubtedly be Antoun’s three most formidable generals: Kreiss of the Black Smoke, Eve of the Demonstone, and Medir of the Abyss. I’ll do my best to delay them. Take this opportunity—drink as much as you can. If things turn dire, I’ll pull you out at once and we’ll escape at full speed. Do you understand?”

Faced with imminent action, Catherine’s fear faded. Knowing it was no time for words, she nodded quickly. Ling Mo smiled with relief, conjured a misty energy that enveloped her, forming a pale golden protective shield, and with a forceful throw, he sent Catherine crashing into the volcano’s crater lake!

With a splash, Catherine landed in the lake without mishap, and was immediately enveloped by the brilliant blue water. She instantly realized this was no ordinary water—it was pure, condensed energy, thick enough to be tangible! The four elemental forces—earth, water, fire, and wind—surged within. Though it contained enough power to obliterate cities, it was gentle and easily absorbed by the body. In just a few seconds, vast amounts of energy flowed into Catherine’s skin and pores, swiftly repairing every hidden injury and elevating her body to an unprecedented peak.

Understanding the preciousness of this gift, Catherine dared not waste a moment. She opened her mouth and gulped down the water, coughing from the first mouthful. Even after just one sip, her stomach felt full to bursting. Her seemingly robust digestive system now seemed inadequate; a single mouthful of lake water took nearly ten seconds to fully absorb and integrate into every organ, transforming her body toward a higher order of life.

No matter how anxious Catherine became, she could only swallow intermittently, pausing each time to close her eyes and focus on absorbing the energy. As the dense power flowed within her, following its internal pathways, she seemed to “see” the inner workings of her own body—she understood the structure of every organ! Was this the sensation her master had described, of “knowing every part of your body”? If she could achieve this, would she then be able to control organs normally beyond the mind’s reach, advancing to the level of a high martial artist? Joy filled her heart, and she focused even more intently on absorbing and digesting the energy.

While she cultivated intently, unaware of anything amiss, outside the lake Ling Mo stood guard, his brows furrowed in deep concern. Too strange! Too abnormal! His apprentice had been in the Source Lake for over three minutes, drinking more than five mouthfuls, and yet not a single creature had come to stop her, nor had Antoun stirred in the slightest! This was far better than his most optimistic expectation—for he had believed Catherine would be able to remain in the lake for only thirty seconds at most.

(ps: Suddenly realized there’s another new leader among the readers, so here’s an extra chapter. From now on, updates for this book will be posted at this time in the afternoon. Remember to vote for the book!)